Fibre2Fashion

Medical wearables are going to be big in the days to come? How "big" is "big"? Medical wearables are a sustainable business for the future. It will be a large industry covering multiple sectors. It is almost impossible to project how “big” is “big” as it spans so many categories from electronics, technology, med-device to fibers, fabrications and surface applications for fabrics. What do you think would be the driving force for this sector? Would it be performance-driven? Or, would there be...

How much do you think technical textiles / nonwovens will dominate the next decade? In which sectors / applications, are we most likely to see that kind of dominance? It is a fact that the technical textiles market is one of the most innovative in the world. It is reported to be among the top five technology-intensive markets with a great potential for advancement. The industry accounts for about 30 per cent of global textile production and it is expected to expand at an annual growth rate of...

Close to half a lakh people from across the world would be converging in Frankfurt, Germany in mid-May. They would be flocking to the Techtextil event for a reason—leading international exhibitors will be presenting the entire spectrum of technical textiles, functional apparel textiles and textile technologies at the Messe Frankfurt event. Texprocess, the leading trade fair for the garment manufacturing and textile processing industry, will take place concurrently with Techtextil. Visitors will...

There are some ideas that never click with the public at first. An American machine salesman and engineer by the name if Whitcomb Judson learnt it the hard way in 1893. He worked on—what was described as—a “clasp locker” and launched the Universal Fastener Company to manufacture his new device. The clasp locker made its debut at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, but saw little success. Gideon Sundback, a Swedish-American electrical engineer, was hired to work for the Universal Fastener Company in...

The suitings segment is one that remains small—almost niche, in a way. It has been so since, say, the 1970s. It has also seen a considerable amount of turbulence—many of the well-known brands that often saw film stars and cricketers endorsing them had almost disappeared a few years ago, as have some companies. But let’s leaves names aside, for they are not germane to the discussion here. What is, nevertheless, pertinent is how players in the suitings arena are dealing with changes in lifestyles...

How crucial is the role of a designer in a company that manufactures fabrics? In that light, how important is your own role at Arvind? To make a good garment, there should be a perfect match of the fabric and silhouette. That's where the designer's expertise and a keen eye for detail come into play. Working in a fabric mill gives you a great understating of fabric, its properties, the purpose of making it, and being a fashion designer, you possess the ability to visualise and render fabric into...

What are your impressions about the ways in that fabric trade has changed over the last 10 years? Could you enumerate a few? The overall industry has seen a gamut of changes over the past decade—be it in product, process and machinery. Let me outline a few: Technological advancements: All players are keeping a close lookout on tech advancements. They serve multiple purposes—from increasing shop-floor efficiency, reducing defects, ensuring streamlining of different processes, and their importance...

If one were to contract the value chain of the global textiles-apparel-fashion industry—for the sake of convenience and debate, the fate of much of the industry would depend considerably on the way fabrics are manufactured and traded. And, if one were to look at the big picture, it would be all about trade. Sure, the global fabrics trade has seen a swathe of changes in this millennium, but the very nature of trade is such that it is fluid. Trade wars and geo-political make it unpredictable. So...

The backbone of the textiles and apparel industry, in many ways, are the countless MSMEs that are part of the supply chain. How and where exactly does a fintech company figure in this chain? MSMEs are a huge contributor to the textiles and apparel industry as is the case with the overall Indian economy. This is evident in cities like Tiruppur, Coimbatore and Ludhiana which are big textile industry hubs. Their overall trade cycle indicates that the MSMEs take between 90 and 120 days to meet their...

Cotton is still the preferred fabric for t-shirts. Is it the same for your brand too? Or, do you see linen, lycra, polyester, rayon or blends taking over? Cotton remains the fibre of choice for our customers, across almost all our brands, but we are certainly seeing a rise in demand for blended fabrics and also purely synthetic fabrics. There are several reasons for these shifts with the biggest being the increasing popularity of the athleisure category where consumers are looking for the...